display

Lars Müller runs one of the largest CBD online shops in Germany.

And he of all people says: “The focus on CBD bothers me a little.” Müller is the head of the Synbiotic stock exchange holding, which in turn operates the online retailer Hempamed.

The holding company is not concerned with CBD alone, but with herbal products.

They also want to position themselves more in the food sector, said Müller in January of the “Gründerszene”: “We ask ourselves what else can be done with hemp seeds.”

The stock exchange holding has now answered this question for itself and has taken over the Hemi brand, a hemp seed milk.

According to his own statements, the Synbiotic boss wants to compete with the vegetable milk giant Oatly.

The plant-based milk should be available in the Rossmann and Alnatura branches from the end of March.

display

Synbiotic started as an empty company shell on the stock exchange, the company wants to grow primarily through acquisitions, says Lars Müller.

Just like now with the Hemi takeover.

The focus is primarily on the European market.

Müller's own company Solidmind was also taken over by Synbiotic in mid-2020, the company's very first acquisition.

Since then, Müller has also held the position of managing director at Synbiotic.

The idea for Synbiotic came from the investor Christian Angermayer, who is behind the magic mushrooms company Compass Pathways.

DHDL juror Georg Kofler is also involved in Synbiotic with his Social Chain AG.

Company valuation: 2.2 million euros

display

According to an ad hoc announcement, the company holding paid 550,000 euros for around a quarter of the shares in The Hempany, the company behind Hemi.

The company valuation should therefore be around 2.2 million euros.

Synbiotic will also have the option to increase its stake to up to 80 percent in the coming months.

The milk made from hemp seeds does not contain any intoxicating ingredients and therefore does not fall under the so-called novel food regulation, which regulates CBD foods.

Despite the boom, the legal framework for the sale of CBD products has still not been conclusively clarified.

One problem with products such as CBD oils: They often contain a small residual amount of psychoactive THC.

Only recently did the Stiftung Warentest criticize this, including with Hempamed's products.

display

"The THC problem remains when we work with hemp," admits Müller.

Therefore, in addition to cannabis plants, look around for other plants that contain cannabinoids - such as hops, cocoa or liquorice root.

“A handful” of further acquisitions are to follow the Hemi takeover this year.

Synbiotic is aiming for 50 percent growth in 2021.

This text comes from a cooperation with the magazine "Gründerszene".

Click on the links, leave welt.de and land in the articles at gruenderszene.de.

This is where you will find third-party content

In order to interact with or display content from third-party providers, we need your consent.

Activate external content

I consent to content from third parties being displayed to me.

This allows personal data to be transmitted to third-party providers.

This may require the storage of cookies on your device.

More information can be found here.